| Abstract |
This essay aims at studying the reason why the Story of the Western Wing, a classic of Yuan Zaju, changed from a classic scholar-beauty romance drama to the Comedy of Tie and Chou. Popular on stage of Kunqu Opera, the lyrical Guanmu, romantic plots and the image of Zhang Sheng and Cui Ying Ying faded away in the southern version of Story of the Western Wing. Such a shift was driven from the adaption of the Story of the Western Wing in the southern version. The modification of Guanmu, performances of each type of character and the sense of aesthetics improved the popularity and entertainment, while the strong lyrical affection decreased. At the same time, the texts and the rules of Qu of the southern version wasn’t refined and strict enough for it to develop into a typical opera performing the singing of Sheng and Dan. In Qianjia Era, with the maturity of the art of Jiamen in each fragment, expertizing performance or buffoonery of Tie Dan, Fu Chou, Da Mian and Xiao Chou stood out and became an artistic feature that based the drama fragment Story of the Western Wing in the theater. Eventually, the theme of scholar-beauty romance blurs in the performance of Jiamen and buffoonery, and turns the Story of the Western Wing into an ironic comedy featuring the buffoonery of Tie and Chou. |
